News
Bloomberg | Neediest Homebuyers in U.S. Lifted by Japan: Mortgages
As Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s efforts to spark inflation by doubling the central bank’s bond purchases shrinks the available debt in his country, traders are betting that will bolster demand for U.S-owned Ginnie Mae’s mortgage securities, pushing up prices and lowering yields that guide home-loan rates.
CNN Money | China growth slows in first quarter
China's economy grew at a slower pace to start the year than economists had expected, raising concerns about the speed of recovery in the world's second-biggest economy.
Bloomberg | Factories in New York Area Grow at Slower Pace Than Forecast
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index dropped to 3.1 this month from 9.2 in March. Readings exceeding zero signal expansion in New York, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut. The median projection of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 7.
CNN Money | Social Security: Many pay more in taxes than they'll get back
Up until now, Social Security has been a windfall for many retirees: They collected far more in benefits than they shelled out in taxes.
Bloomberg | Homebuilder Confidence in U.S. Unexpectedly Dropped in April
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders unexpectedly fell in April for a third month, restrained by rising costs for materials and financing restrictions.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The President's Free-Trade Path to Prosperity
International economic engagement has been a defining pillar of United States leadership and prosperity for decades. It helped turn former enemies into close allies and major trading partners. It forged an international economic architecture on the bedrock principles of fair competition, open markets, and rules-based trade and investment. It lowered economic barriers and made possible the rise of vibrant middle classes abroad and in America.
NBER | Asset Quality Misrepresentation by Financial Intermediaries: Evidence from RMBS Market
We contend that buyers received false information about the true quality of assets in contractual disclosures by intermediaries during the sale of mortgages in the $2 trillion non-agency market.
AEI | The chained CPI: A bad deal all around
The Chain-Weighted Consumer Price Index (or chained CPI, for short), which President Obama included as part of his formal budget proposal, seems like a no-brainer for any White House-GOP grand bargain on the budget deficit.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Work Is the Best Way out of Poverty, Most Americans Agree
Most Americans believe “work is the best solution for poverty,” according to a recent Rasmussen Report. A full 80 percent of Americans agree with this statement (9 percent disagree and 11 percent are undecided).
Monday, April 15, 2013
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | TIPS in Longest Selloff Since ’08 as U.S. Bancorp Cuts
History is repeating itself in the bond market as investors capitulate on bets that the Federal Reserve’s money-printing efforts will spark faster inflation.
Market Watch | Fed drafts fee on big banks to cover oversight
The Federal Reserve on Monday introduced a proposal that would assess a fee on the largest financial institutions with $50 billion in assets to help pay for the central bank's oversight of big banks.
Bloomberg | TIPS in Longest Selloff Since ’08 as U.S. Bancorp Cuts
History is repeating itself in the bond market as investors capitulate on bets that the Federal Reserve’s money-printing efforts will spark faster inflation.
Market Watch | Fed drafts fee on big banks to cover oversight
The Federal Reserve on Monday introduced a proposal that would assess a fee on the largest financial institutions with $50 billion in assets to help pay for the central bank's oversight of big banks.
Taxes
News
Politico | Tax Day: Not as bad as expected
It was supposed to be delayed and complicated, but when all the tax returns are finally filed, tax season 2013 might turn out to have been a relatively calm one.
CNN Money | Obama's tax returns: Income drops
President Obama and the first family saw their income drop slightly in 2012, according to tax returns released by the White House on Friday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | Small businesses need tax reform
Here we are on Tax Day, the time of year to rightfully reflect on our nation’s tax system. Most Americans immediately experience tax pain in terms of how much they pay to Uncle Sam. For our nation’s small businesses, the complexity of compliance adds insult to injury.
Washington Times | One hundred years of tax servitude
Happy birthday: The income tax is now 100 years old. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by three-fourths of the then-48 states.
Businessweek | The Economic Case Against Tax Deductions
As millions of exhausted Americans scramble to the mailbox with bulging envelopes or click send on multimegabyte files of scanned pages, many will curse a system that seems designed to drive the honest taxpayer to despair.
NY Times | A Tax System Stacked Against the 99 Percent
Leona Helmsley, the hotel chain executive who was convicted of federal tax evasion in 1989, was notorious for, among other things, reportedly having said that “only the little people pay taxes.”
AEI | Tax cuts aren't everything
April 15 is Tax Day in America. But it seems like every day is Tax Day on the right. Activists, policymakers, and wonks devote an incredible amount of thought and energy to fighting tax-hike efforts and to devising ways to reform the current tax code.
Heritage Foundation | Boxer–Sanders Carbon Tax Would Empower EPA to Crush Booming Energy Economy
In his 2013 State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama called on Congress to pursue a solution to climate change, or else he would do it on his own. The same week, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D–CA) and committee member Bernie Sanders (I–VT) introduced the first major bill that would institute a carbon tax, the Climate Protection Act of 2013 (Boxer–Sanders).
Politico | Tax Day: Not as bad as expected
It was supposed to be delayed and complicated, but when all the tax returns are finally filed, tax season 2013 might turn out to have been a relatively calm one.
CNN Money | Obama's tax returns: Income drops
President Obama and the first family saw their income drop slightly in 2012, according to tax returns released by the White House on Friday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | Small businesses need tax reform
Here we are on Tax Day, the time of year to rightfully reflect on our nation’s tax system. Most Americans immediately experience tax pain in terms of how much they pay to Uncle Sam. For our nation’s small businesses, the complexity of compliance adds insult to injury.
Washington Times | One hundred years of tax servitude
Happy birthday: The income tax is now 100 years old. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by three-fourths of the then-48 states.
Businessweek | The Economic Case Against Tax Deductions
As millions of exhausted Americans scramble to the mailbox with bulging envelopes or click send on multimegabyte files of scanned pages, many will curse a system that seems designed to drive the honest taxpayer to despair.
NY Times | A Tax System Stacked Against the 99 Percent
Leona Helmsley, the hotel chain executive who was convicted of federal tax evasion in 1989, was notorious for, among other things, reportedly having said that “only the little people pay taxes.”
AEI | Tax cuts aren't everything
April 15 is Tax Day in America. But it seems like every day is Tax Day on the right. Activists, policymakers, and wonks devote an incredible amount of thought and energy to fighting tax-hike efforts and to devising ways to reform the current tax code.
Heritage Foundation | Boxer–Sanders Carbon Tax Would Empower EPA to Crush Booming Energy Economy
In his 2013 State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama called on Congress to pursue a solution to climate change, or else he would do it on his own. The same week, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D–CA) and committee member Bernie Sanders (I–VT) introduced the first major bill that would institute a carbon tax, the Climate Protection Act of 2013 (Boxer–Sanders).
Employment
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | An economy that’s tearing our society apart
The discouraging March employment report, with a job increase of only 88,000, raises questions well beyond the dreary state of today’s labor market. Prolonged high unemployment may be silently shredding the social fabric in ways that last for decades.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Raising the Minimum Wage to $9 Would Harm Most Vulnerable Job Seekers
President Obama’s budget proposes raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. This would hurt the very workers the President wants to help.
Washington Post | An economy that’s tearing our society apart
The discouraging March employment report, with a job increase of only 88,000, raises questions well beyond the dreary state of today’s labor market. Prolonged high unemployment may be silently shredding the social fabric in ways that last for decades.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Raising the Minimum Wage to $9 Would Harm Most Vulnerable Job Seekers
President Obama’s budget proposes raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. This would hurt the very workers the President wants to help.
Budget
News
Market Watch | Obama’s budget no compromise: Republican
A House Republican freshman on Saturday called President Barack Obama’s newly unveiled budget proposal “a blank check for more spending and more debt,” ripping into the plan in the GOP’s weekly address.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | Obama’s growth-busting budget
No matter how you slice the Obama budget pie, the inescapable fact is that the president wants to get rid of the roughly $1 trillion budget-cutting sequester and substitute in a $1 trillion-plus tax hike. In other words, more spending, more taxing. Growth-busting. The GOP should just say no.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Hunting for Surprises in the Obama Budget
It is somehow fitting President Obama released his budget for Fiscal Year 2014 after Easter, a mere 65 days late—but who’s counting? Fitting because going through Obama’s budget is like an Easter egg hunt for which those in charge of hiding the eggs are masters of their craft. It takes time to find all the eggs mixed in among all the pretty plastic flowers of budgetary spin, and each one brings a new sense of awe and amazement if not delight.
Market Watch | Obama’s budget no compromise: Republican
A House Republican freshman on Saturday called President Barack Obama’s newly unveiled budget proposal “a blank check for more spending and more debt,” ripping into the plan in the GOP’s weekly address.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | Obama’s growth-busting budget
No matter how you slice the Obama budget pie, the inescapable fact is that the president wants to get rid of the roughly $1 trillion budget-cutting sequester and substitute in a $1 trillion-plus tax hike. In other words, more spending, more taxing. Growth-busting. The GOP should just say no.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Hunting for Surprises in the Obama Budget
It is somehow fitting President Obama released his budget for Fiscal Year 2014 after Easter, a mere 65 days late—but who’s counting? Fitting because going through Obama’s budget is like an Easter egg hunt for which those in charge of hiding the eggs are masters of their craft. It takes time to find all the eggs mixed in among all the pretty plastic flowers of budgetary spin, and each one brings a new sense of awe and amazement if not delight.
Health Care
Econ Comments & Analysis
CQ | Health: Shortfall Could Boost Republican Efforts to Kill Exhanges
When Health and Human Services officials met with reporters April 10 to detail their fiscal 2014 budget proposal, they finally revealed details about implementing a critical piece of the health care overhaul law that Republicans had been trying to pry loose for weeks.
CQ | Health: Shortfall Could Boost Republican Efforts to Kill Exhanges
When Health and Human Services officials met with reporters April 10 to detail their fiscal 2014 budget proposal, they finally revealed details about implementing a critical piece of the health care overhaul law that Republicans had been trying to pry loose for weeks.
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